Benefits the Space Shuttle Era

What are some of the more earthly benefits that have come out of the space program?

07/08/2011

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Dear Control Engineering: I see that Atlantis has taken off this morning on what is being billed as the final space shuttle mission. What are some of the side benefits that have come out of the space program over the years?

“As famed heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey, who has collaborated with NASA on one of its most beneficial inventions, an artificial heart pump, has said, ‘NASA is engaged in very active research. It has as its goal to explore space. But to do so, you’ve got to do all kinds of research – biological research, physical research and so on. So it’s really a very, very intensive research organization. And anytime you have any type of intensive research organization or activity going on, new knowledge is going to flow from it.’”

One Control Engineering article from earlier this year discussed a specific industrial control solution that helped maintain the shuttle program, but didn’t result directly from space-related research. There are probably countless developments similar to that.

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Annual Salary Survey

Before the calendar turned, 2016 already had the makings of a pivotal year for manufacturing, and for the world.

There were the big events for the year, including the United States as Partner Country at Hannover Messe in April and the 2016 International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago in September. There's also the matter of the U.S. presidential elections in November, which promise to shape policy in manufacturing for years to come.

But the year started with global economic turmoil, as a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing triggered a worldwide stock hiccup that sent values plummeting. The continued plunge in world oil prices has resulted in a slowdown in exploration and, by extension, the manufacture of exploration equipment.